Draco's 3.X D&D Creature Creations.

[Draco Dei]

This thread will be for posting my "Homebrews" from Giant in the Playground to this board for the people here to use.
I LOVE feedback on how I can improve(including what I am doing right in a given case so I can try to do it again), both analysis and actual play-test reports.

We shall start off with a rather whimsical creature, more likely to be friend than foe to most of the adventuring parties I would predict that would tend to get run around here.



Giraffe-a-pump
Large Magical Beast (Water)
4d10+12 HD (34 hp)
Speed 50 ft. (10 squares)
Init: +1 (+1 Dex)
AC 13; touch 10; flat-footed 12
(-1 Size, +1 Dex, +3 Natural)
BAB +4; Grp +11
Attack Hoof +6 (1d6+3) melee OR Mouth Jet +4 ranged touch (1d8)
Full-Attack 2 Hooves +6/+6 melee and Horns +1 melee (1d4+1)* OR 2 Hooves +6/+6 melee and Mouth Jet +4 Ranged Touch (1d8)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks Mouth Jet
Special Qualities Low-light Vision, NO Dark Vision, Mouth Jet, Unthirsting, Low sleep requirements.
Saves Fort +7 Ref +5 Will +3
Abilities Str 17, Dex 12, Con 17, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 17
Skills Diplomacy +10, Hide -2, Listen +5, Sense Motive +9, Spot +6
Feats Alertness, Negotiator
Environment Temperate or Arid Surface
Organization Solitary or Herd (6-24)
Challenge Rating 4
Treasure Standard
Alignment Always Lawful Good or Neutral Good
Advancement by Class Favored Class Ranger
Level Adjustment +0

*The horns are only usable against creatures that stand at least 10' tall or who are raised by flight or levitation to have some part of their body at least at that height.

Giraffe-a-pumps, also known as Living Fonts, Walking Oases, and Desert Rains, look like normal giraffes, although they generally do not travel alone (keeping either with a herd of their own kind or occasionally traveling with a mixed species group) and mate monogamously. They travel around providing extra water to good and neutral communities that need it. Although perfectly capable of grazing for their food, they enjoy salads, especially those that broccoli features prominently in as well as steamed carrots. Grateful communities will often provide these foods in return for the giraffe-a-pumps services. Although they require no payment for watering food crops, filling public cisterns or providing water for domesticated animals, they are often hired as living decorative fountains. Some groups have learned to vary the direction and intensity of their mouth jets in closely choreographed patterns, often as accompaniment to local favorite dancing songs. Some larger cities have individual giraffe-a-pumps paid to live in strategically located parks or buildings so as to be able to respond to fires. In times of severe drought, if they can spare the time from sustaining the local intelligent creatures, giraffe-a-pumps may try to quench the thirst of local wildlife. Giraffe-a-pumps have an especial affinity for children, placing emphasis on the importance of instilling good values early in life. For this reason they often will give youngsters rides as they make their local rounds, showing by example the importance of caring for others. Giraffe-a-pumps generally worship good-aligned gods with the Sun, Animal, Plant, and/or Water domains. It is rumored that powerful sorcerers among giraffe-a-pumps usually develop the ability to transmute their mouth jet to acid for short periods of time, but this is unconfirmed.
Giraffe-a-pumps are generally not directly aggressive. This is not out of any timidity or pacifism but rather is a function of playing to their strengths. With the vital resource they can provide a giraffe-a-pump herd is rarely without allies and they are generally more valuible to whatever causes they champion by continuing to provide the services they do rather than via direct confrontation. This is not to say that they are unable fighters when the need comes. They know that many would try to alter their routes in there own favor (or to deny water to enemies), or even to capture them for their sole use. While such moves are likely to bring retaliation from other sentient species the giraffe-a-pumps do not wish to become mere pawns in power struggles. For this reason Giraffe-a-pump herds are generally lead by the individual with the greatest skill in interacting with other races. There will usually be 2 sub-leaders, one in charge of scouting and route selection between water deliverly points and the other a lead-from-the-front type war-leader. Sometimes any of these three may be combined, the most common instances being scout-warcheif rangers and occasionally leader-warcheif aristocrats.

Giraffe-a-pumps speak Common.

Combat
If it won't keep them from where they need to get to Giraffe-a-pumps will run rather than fight. When it does come to a fight Giraffe-a-pumps will generally use tactics similar to mounted archers, advancing and retreating as necessary to try to keep the enemy off balance. This is especially effective against slower enemies or those that rely heavily on armor (natural or manufactured) since their mouth jets are touch attacks. They often will take cover behind spreading trees, reach out their necks above or next to the cover in order to fire. When an enemy has an advantage at range or needs to be taken out quickly they do not hesitate to close and engage with hoof and horn. In the few instances where they have engaged in battles that could be anticipated days in advance they have been known to pre-soak strategically important patches of ground to turn them muddy and thus channel the attackers. Interestingly enough they are also partial to setting fires as a weapon since they know that they can protect themselves from such better than almost any opponent, and can keep it from spreading too far after the battle (provided they win of course).

Mouth Jet (Sn)
A Giraffe-a-pump can pour forth pure, fresh water from its mouth. When active this can be precisely controlled to be as slow as a trickle convenient for a gnome child to drink from at one extreme to a jet that can rapidly re-fill an empty cistern or provide irrigation (60-foot-long 6-inch-wide stream at 30 gallons per round) at the other end of the spectrum. At the high end of this spectrum the jet can be used as a weapon that deals 1d8 damage on a ranged touch attack with a range increment of 30 feet and a maximium range of 60 feet. A Giraffe-a-pump does not need to make any strength checks to avoid being knocked over by the back-pressure of its mouth jet.

Unthirsting (Sn)
Due to its ability to internally generate water a Giraffe-a-pump never needs to drink. It also takes no damage on a successful save and only half damage on a failed save against Horrid Wilting and other dehydration spells and effects. It is still perfectly capable of drinking potions, or lapping up a bowl of mead along-side its companions.

Low sleep requirements (Ex)
A Giraffe-a-pump only needs to sleep 2 hours per night. Giraffe-a-pump wizards (who are very rare) still must have 8 hours of restful calm before preparing any spells.


Plot Hooks
- Evil desert nomads have captured a giraffe-a-pump, thus freeing their most skilled raiding party from having to stop to take on water during hit-and-run raids and allowing them to use horses (instead of camels) more freely. The adventurers are hired to rescue it.
- A town is suffering a terrible draught. They hire the party to escort a willing girraffe-a-pump herd through the dangerous mountains that form the quickest path for the herd to come to the rescue.
- A clutch of wyrmling red dragons goes after a herd of giraffe-a-pumps after the giraffe-a-pumps put out one too many of the forest fires the dragons started for their own amusement.

In loving Memory of Walter Folkoff.


Technical Note: The only difference I note to this point between the way forum codes work on GitP and here is how the size parameters are specified.

[Draco Dei]

If anyone can help me figure out how to do a table, I can put my true dragons up here at some point. The table code from Giant in the Playground doesn't work, and not being able to do side scrolling Code tag windows dampens that idea...

This one is based on a pun that I want to give people a chance to guess, but is also obscure enough that I am going to give a hit... it is a phrase in Italian, that I only know of because it is used in theater (which I am not involved in, I just pick up trivia).

So, try to guess the real name of this creature!

Water Bird
Small Elemental (Air, Water)
HD 2d8+2 (11 hp)
Speed 10 ft. (2 squares); Fly 40 ft (Clumsy)
Init: +1 (+1 Dex)
AC 14; touch 12; flat-footed 13
(+1 size, +1 Dex, +2 Natural)
BAB +1; Grp -2
Attack Bite +2 melee (1d4+1 plus Killing Touch)
Full-Attack Bite +2 melee (1d4+1 plus Killing Touch)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks Elemental Vomit, Killing Touch
Special Qualities Immune to disease, Take-off Roll, 50% chance of Scent (roll once for all encountered at one time), ?Turn Resistance +1?
Saves Fort +4 Ref +4 Will +2
Abilities Str 12, Dex 13, Con 13, Int 2, Wis 14, Cha 5
Skills Spot +15
Feats Dodge
Environment Any Non-Arctic (but most often in deserts), Elemental Plane of Air
Organization Solitary or Flock(3-10)
Challenge Rating 2
Treasure None
Alignment Always Neutral
Advancement 3-4 HD (Small); 5-7 HD (Medium)
This creature is a mass of water, shot through with a huge number of small bubbles. Its shape is like that of a great soaring bird, right down to the feathers, except for the head which is noticeably smoother.

Combat
Water birds are scavengers, only attacking the dead or dying that they spot while soaring high above... they will approach a dying creature with care, and waiting patiently until it can put up little or no further resistance. If attacked, they will use their elemental vomit, but they do not generally attack fleeing foes. They may, however, follow them at a distance, just like they would any other creature.

Elemental Vomit(Su): As a last resort defensive measure a water bird may greatly increase the slightly acid nature of a small part of its substance and vomit it at an attacker. This deals the water bird 3 hp of damage, has a range increment of 10 feet, a maximum range of 30 feet, and is otherwise similar to Melf's Acid Arrow with a caster level equal to double the water bird's hit-dice.

Killing Touch(Su): Water birds do not eat or drink in the normal senses of the words, but rather must take air and water from other organisms to survive. If a water bird hits a living creature that breaths air and contains water with its bite attack, or would have hit had it been a touch attack, and (after damage, if any, from the bite attack is resolved) that creature has less than zero hit-points then the creature is instantly slain as the water bird draws forth the water from the body and the air from the lungs. On the following turn it incorporates these materials into its body as a full round action. This ability also works on dead (NOT undead or deathless) creatures that have been dead for less than 2 hours per hit-die that the water-bird possesses. In either case, the remaining corpse is totally desiccated, but if handled with care to prevent too much fracturing/tearing (and not previously undead etc etc), is still suitable for Raise Dead. If Create Water and Gust of Wind are both cast on a water bird within one round of eachother, this also will sustain it as if it had "eaten" until it could "eat" no more.

Take-off Roll(Ex): Water birds must run for a full round in a straight line, moving the maximum distance their speed would allow (so 40 feet), to build up speed for one round before taking off and may not change direction while flying the following round.

Skills
Water birds have a +8 racial bonus on Spot checks and may use Spot in place of Heal and/or Sense Motive to determine the state of health of creatures.

Water birds often mutter words under their breath although they have no more understanding of what these words mean than a parrot does. This ability is inborn and requires no exposure to language of any kind. Water birds are occasionally domesticated for use converting freshly slaughtered animals into jerky(in such a case some of the cleaning/dressing process occurs before the water bird is allowed access to it, and some afterward). Such a trained creature is worth 10 gold pieces, and can be reared from an egg (1 gp value) with a successful Handle Animal check DC 15. This process takes 2 months but only 1 hour of work is needed per day. Note that training them to do anything but make jerky for you, not bite people who enter their cage and not try to escape their cage TOO hard is next to impossible.

[Draco Dei]

Nobody has any guesses?

[belkar]

water vulture

[Draco Dei]

Very close... but no cigar...

[Draco Dei]

And here is a spin off of one of my magnum opii, even outside of D&D... I say "spin off" because the originals are the wereskunks, who are at-will shape-shifters with very fine control over said shape-shifting. One of my "sub-avatars", Mr Bounder, is a wereskunk who was born human. Although I am not married IRL, he was bitten by his wife, Mary, on their wedding night.

Feel free to point out anything I missed in the conversion between forums.


Image edited from this strip, authored by Oren Otter, used with permission
Mepholk
In the fairly distant past the Mepholk were decidedly Evil as a race. They were using their strong personalities and silky bodies (with occasional bullying with threats of spray, especially when third parties tried to get in the way) to lure people into wanton sexual behavior (ESPECIALLY in cultures that did not approve of such) while being very elitist about who they would deem to have children with (often using magical or herbal means of birth control), and openly snubbing their noses at the Allurehn the goddess of lineage, heritage, sex, hearth and home. The end of this came rather sharply long ago (200 to 5,000 years depending on your campaign) when Allurehn put a racial curse on them, that only the person they gave their virginity to could they ever have children with, and that unfaithfulness on the part of a Mepholk would render them infertile. (Depending on how common they are in a given campaign the GM may decide that the curse was retroactive on all Mepholk in existence at that time, resulting in a sharp drop in population.) In any case the curse had its intended effect in that they became devoted followers of Allurehn. So they are currently trying to get their numbers (back) up by being exogamous, seeing their unique traits as a blessing that they were remiss in not spreading among humans (see both the Strong Bloodline trait and final major teaching of Allurehn (#8) below). They are only slightly more prolific than humans (in terms of average number of children in a given family who reach adult-hood), having slightly lower child mortality due to the spray, keen sense of smell, and above average resistance to snake venom (not to mention the survival benefits of an almost certainly two-parent household). They also TEND to wish to have slightly more children than pure human couples so as to spread their blessings further. The fact that they remember all the tricks to AVOID conception and the clerics of Allurehn have introduced equally skilled measures to ENSURE conception when it is desired (since little remained to teach of the first) means that nuclear families with at least one Mepholk parent tend to be EXACTLY as big as the parents want them to be.

Personality: Mepholk typically have a high degree of self-confidence. This stems from their natural weapon granting them a basic instinctual fearlessness young in life and then combining with a culture that teaches that they are SLIGHTLY superior to the average of the most common races to spill over into other areas of their lives as they mature. With many of their communities in physically restrictive tunnels, they have a less restricted concept of personal space than most of the common races. This combined with their silky soft fur and tendency in most areas to sniff noses with each-other instead of shaking hands has lead to them being very physically affectionate, even, to a degree, with strangers. Many find their chaste/faithful sexual morals to be a surprise in this context, but the Mepholk see no contradiction.

Physical Description: Mepholk are bipedal (plantigrade not digitigrade!) skunk-people. Most have human like head-hair in addition to their bi-colored fur although about 25% have no scalp hair, just the striped fur on top same as everywhere else. Most are black and white, but various shades of brown (including distinctly red shades) and white, or even yellow-blond and white are quite common as well. They will often dye their stripes bright colors for decorative purposes... doing each stripe in a different color is considered more fancy, and having a series of color gradients that complement each-other along the length of the body is considered the mark of a master fur-dyer. While about the same height as humans between their tendency to be slightly to very plump and the tails they generally weigh a bit more.

Relations:
Humans: Mepholk wish to "breed out" humans (since the child of a Mepholk and a human is a Mepholk), most humans who have met one socially are perfectly alright with this, although some find it decidedly spooky. They fully recognize (and can be quite vocal if challenged on this point) that humans are their spiritual equals, and in an average urban environment their physical equals as well. As for the realms of the mind (including force of personality) there sages long ago figured out that what advantage they have their is a result of their physical traits impact on their society individual personally rather than being a thing directly intrinsic to their hereditary mental traits. They consider themselves just superior enough physically to humans that it would be downright selfish of themselves to NOT being willing to over-write human bloodlines with their own. If local populations of humans are against this as a group... well, the general opinion, is that that is the human's loss and it really wouldn't do much good to argue with them...

Dwarves: While they don't mind caves and tunnels at all, many Mepholk find these miners of said excavations to be noticeably too dower to make good company. Dwarves respect them for being almost as stalwart in battle as they are, but consider them even worse than gnomes when it comes to building excavations to last.

Elves and Half-Elves: Mepholk have a respect for the elven bond with nature, and more so for their skill with ranged weapons. Elves are caught up in a conundrum when it comes to Mepholk, finding their slow grace to be elegant, but their preferred method of ranged attack to be decidedly gauche... but they cannot argue its effectiveness at making attackers think twice. Many Mepholk philosophers have pondered the abstract question of whether once all desirous human populations have received their gift if the fair folk would be the next logical step.

Halflings: Mepholk and Halflings tend to get along well usually. Most Mepholk respect the Halfling devotion to their clans, and Halflings in turn respect the Mepholk devotion to their race and family. Shifting tides of opinion or demographics (between Mepholk and humans) can lead to the same migratory tendences in Mepholk as Halflings have. Halflings are good at finding trouble, and Mepholk good at averting it once found. This tends to make them faster friends less grudge-bearing enemies

Half-Orcs: Half-orc directness has its appeal to some Mepholk, but they generally agree that there is such a thing as too much of a good thing, and half-orcs usually have it. Still, when something aggressive lacks either the right sort of sense of smell, or any concept of "quit", you really can't go wrong with having a half-orc ally around to render the aggressor into paste...

Gnomes: The gnomish affinity for burrowing species and living below the roots of trees makes the two races well disposed toward each-other... a gnomish expression about Mepholk goes: "They know only one joke, but the telling of it is not quickly forgotten by anyone.", while not technically true (the Mepholk gregariousness lends itself as well to comedy as anything else), the wisdom contained in this statement is rarely questioned.

Alignment: Usually Good. Having a natural non-lethal combat option (making mercy to an enemy a less difficult choice to make), along with their devotion to the Allurehn the goddess of the Hearth causes them to tend strongly towards Good, but they are no more devoted to law or chaos than humans are.

Lands: Any Temperate, individual Mepholk may head off to other climates without a second thought if they have reason, but population concentrations in arctic or tropical zones are minimal. Then generally blend seamlessly in with human populations, unless ostracized for some reason (falsely being suspected of being generally "stinky" can be one common minor reason).

Settlements: Equally comfortable living above ground like humans or below ground like gnomes, they generally live integrated in with local human populations if they can, although often they end up happily living 20 to 50 feet below the humans' feet.

Power Groups: Usually part of human governance and neither more nor less likely to be in a position of power than a human.

Beliefs: Many are strong followers of the Neutral Good warder (goddess in campaigns that use those) Allurehn.
Portfolio: Heritage, Lineage, Romance, Sex, Contentment in Singleness, Fertility, Home, Community
Domains of Allurehn: Healing, Romance/Spouse Selection, Gestation, Sexual Pleasure
Major teachings of Allurehn:

1. Successful marriage is a treasure that most should actively seek after, unless a clear reason exists to the contrary. The search may be harder for some than others, and while there is more than one "perfect match" for almost all individuals, one should never compromise by settling for less than what can honestly be expected to produce mutual happiness with only a very large effort (for even the best matches need constant effort to keep the fires of dedication from dying down, but anything less than that requires even more). The concept of a follower of Allurehn taking a vow of celibacy would be ridiculous in the extreme although they are known to actively forgo marriage (at least for a time) if they have a long-term mission that would not be compatible with that.
2. Support of ones spouse and children, second only to a unique need for the greater good that one may be uniquely placed to fill. This includes seeing love between spouses as a commitment, in addition to the meaning of that word as an emotion. Emotions ebb and flow; dedication should not. This means seeking to build a relationship regardless of what it is returning at that time.
3. Sexual faithfulness to one's spouse in both body and mind. This includes both chastity before marriage, and the seeking of fulfillment for both of you as a high goal after marriage. In case it isn't obvious, clerics of Allurehn are experts on sex (including foreplay), and their senior members can generally outdo succubae and incubi on knowledge of the subject.
4. Protection of Good races/nations/peoples and their settlements and territories.
5. Destruction of Evil races that they might not dominate numerically or territorially over the Neutral and Good.
6. An understanding of the goals of your forbearers and, if reasonable in one's specific case, following through on those goals unless you find them to be clearly misguided. This includes caring for your parents, and grandparents in their old age, both so they may continue to apply their knowledge, wisdom, and experience to the things they hold dear, and so that none may have to be TOO cautious for fear of becoming impoverished if old age weakens them more quickly than might be expected, some harm befalls them in them in their vigor for pursuing their goals, or if they are gifted with a great number of years beyond the norm.
7. The counterpart to the above is to consider the good of those who come after you, including all sapient races but with an especial focus on ones own bloodline.
8. (This next one is likely to be the source of conflict and ire for any who do not understand it (and even a few who do) in many campaigns/settings.)
   Improvement of the bloodlines of all races, both in preserving diversity, and in encouraging the weeding out of traits that are unarguably strongly negative and promotion of those that are unarguably strongly positive. NOTE HOWEVER IT IS NOT PERMISSIBLE to kill, or otherwise hinder from marriage or reproduction any sapient being against their will to prevent them from spreading less than ideal traits (and her clerics generally support such crimes to be punished in accordance with the principle "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth"). The exceptions to this are races that are racially (NOT CULTURALLY) Evil (the extremely rare non-evil members of such races are exempt from that, and in-fact are often considered highly valuable members of the breeding population), and individuals who are EXTREMELY deficient, compared to the rest of their race, in fundamental capacity to understand the concepts involved in this (her clerics frequently serve communities by providing magical tattoos or peircings that permanently prevent reproduction, but not sexual enjoyment for those who are profoundly retarded or insane due to heritable birth defects).
   
   She encourages an honest self-assessment guided by knowledge from experts (such as many of her clerics) of ones own heritable traits. Those who honestly find themselves to be of strongly below average heritable traits (even if they have risen above those limitations by means of dedication, determination, or sheer luck) are encouraged to use contraceptive methods when they marry (a treasure they should still seek, even if it might be harder to find someone who is willing to not have any children of their own). If such a couple is capable of supporting them, they are especially welcomed to adopt orphans or unwanted children. On the other end of the spectrum, Allurehn encourages her more naturally gifted followers not to be selfish towards future generations by avoiding marriage or children even for the sake of their talents. This includes even those whose gifts are confounded by the situation they were born into, injury, disease, or other misfortune.
   
   For this reason she also encourages the voluntary acquisition/spread of the Good-Aligned strains of lycanthropy, to individuals who are either of already of the same alignment as the theranthrope strain they are acquiring or who are looking to make a definitive change in their path (such as neutral individuals who wish they had the moral fiber to consistently be more selfless or evildoers seeking redemption.). Similarly, Allurehn also encourages young dragons to take a "training spouse" from among the shorter-lived races while they are carefully selecting a draconic mate, since a good dating/courtship sequence (of multiple possible matches) for a dragon can last longer than a human lifetime. Having a "Monogamous Fling" in the mean time is good both for the dragon to get practical experience in being a good spouse without getting locked into anything for an especially long time by draconic standards, and for the bloodlines of the other local sapients. (See my Wing Dragon entry for more details on this practice).
   
   Clerics of Allurehn are always watchful for those would use bad means to good ends when it comes to trying to improve intellegent races. Mepholk clerics are especially so among their own kind, considering their ability to over-right human bloodlines to be a gift from Allurehn and knowing the importance of keeping it from being misinterprited by either Mepholk or humans.

Typical Followers: Any race, but especially Mepholk. While she has followers of almost every class, rangers serving her are of especial interest since they often make it a goal to thin the numbers of or even locally exterminate a racially evil race.


Language: Common. Bonus Languages: Any (other than secret languages, such as Druidic), elven is especially common. See the Speak Language skill.

Names: Family names are earned by some memorable (not necessarily heroic... just memorable) deed or physical feature. Taking a new name for this reason is always voluntary. Brides take their husband's name upon marriage usually, but the reverse is not unknown, especially if the bride's family name is more prestigious (or even just more interesting).

Male Names: As per human.
Female Names: As per human.
Family Names: Quick-Tail, Three-Bugs, Bounder, Two-Dens, Deep-Digger, Slug-Eater, Branch-Jumper, Wiggle-Stripes, Leaf-Biter

Adventurers: Mepholk adventure for all the same reasons their human relatives do, with the addition of being naturally prone to resist aggression against themselves or their family, friends, allies, or country.


Mepholk Racial Traits
* +2 CHA. Skunk-folk have an instinctive self-confidence resulting from their natural weapon, and their cultural tendency towards affection makes them apt persuaders in social situations... the occasional flick of a silky-soft tail-tip across a shin when bar-hopping to find the latest gossip can be surprisingly effective at putting people off their guard (either from enjoyment or surprise)
* Humanoid (Human)
* Size: Medium. As Medium creatures, Mepholk have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
* Mepholk land speed is 30 feet.
* Automatic Language: Common Bonus Languages: Any (other than secret languages, such as Druidic), elven is especially common. See the Speak Language skill.
* Favored Class: Monk AND all NPC classes. Do not consider any levels in any of these classes when determining if a Mepholk has an XP penalty.
* 1 extra feat at 1st level.
* 4 extra skill points at 1st class level, 1 extra skill point at each additional class level, and 1 extra skill point for their racial hit die.
* Intimidate is considered a class skill for a Mepholk for any class with full-BAB, wild-empathy, or that emphasizes unarmed strikes. Of the SRD base classes this makes a change to: Druids, Monks, Paladins, and Rangers.
* Low-Light Vision: A Mepholk can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. She retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
* Human kin: For all effects related to race, a Mepholk is considered a human.
* [url="http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#scent"]Scent[/url]
* Spray:
** Attack: ranged touch attack that never provokes an attack of opportunity. This counts as both a natural and a manufactured weapon (specifically a bow actually...) for purposes of how many attacks they get per round. This means a skunk-folk monk can do his full flurry with sprays, and Rapid Shot and Many-Shot are all usable with spray. They can store up to 6 'shots' and when under this number remaining recharge one 'shot' every 20 minutes. range increment 10' (max range 30'){1}, threats on an 18 to 20 (gets in eyes, note that feats, spells, and effects that expand the critical range of a weapon never apply to this). All those within 15 feet of target sprayed within the last 3d6 minutes (INCLUDING Mepholk) must succeed a fortitude save DC 10 + 1/2 HD + Constitution Modifier or be wracked with nausea, suffering a -3 circumstance to all attacks, saves, and skill checks for 2d4+6 minutes, the creature actually struck has this penalty without save and must save (Fortitude) each round against the same DC to take any action, if they make it they can take a partial action, if they make it by 5 they make take their full action). If miss then 15' stench radius is from location determined by splash weapon scatter method. Struck target (character and/or specific items struck) smell bad for days (See Lingering smell below).
Critical hit: A critical hit means the spray has gotten in the eyes. This results in:

• An additional -4 circumstance to all attacks, saves, and skill checks from burning pain and partial blindness
• Casting spells etc. Requires concentration checks with a DC equal to the original DC for 3d6 rounds
• Fortitude save DC equal to the original DC +5 to avoid being completely blinded for that duration.

{1}Note also that Far Shot DOES increase the range increment of these to 15' and the maximum range to 45'.
**Lingering stench: -5 to interpersonal interactions if struck or carrying such item, reduced by 1 per four days and also by 1 for each 4 hours spent washing with soap, apply triple this penalty as a bonus to tracking the victim by scent. Time items made completely from metal, crystal, and/or stone etc. can be washed off in only 1 minute per size class above Tiny but the smell gets on the hands or washrag used for the washing.

* Snake Fighter: +4 bonus on Fortitude Saves against the venoms of snakes and snake like creatures (such as Yuan-Ti and Nagas).
* Strong Bloodline: The child of a Mepholk and a human will always be a full-blooded skunk-folk (although with build, eye-color, etc still genetically influenced by the human parent), there is no such thing as a half-human half-Mepholk for game-play purposes. Mixed Elven/Mepholk bloodlines are also Mepholk in every respect EXCEPT lifespan, which is the same as for a human/elf cross of similar proportions (so a individual with pure elven heritage except for a single Mepholk ancestor 5 generations back would be a Mepholk with an elven life-span).
* Tail: Their tails give them +2 to balance checks.
* Racial Hit Dice: A Mepholk begins with one level of humanoid, which provides 1d8 Hit Die, a base attack bonus of +0, and base saving throw bonuses of Fort +2, Ref +0, and Will +2 (note that these are NOT the standard saving throw bonuses for a Humanoid by any means).
* Racial Skills: A skunk-folks humanoid level gives it skill points equal to (3 + Int modifier, minimum 1). This includes the bonus skill point for their similarity to humans. DO NOT QUADRUPLE THESE RACIAL SKILL POINTS, instead quadruple their skill points from their first class level. Its class skills are Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate(Cha) Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), and Use Rope (Dex). [Development Note: this is the same as for Commoner, but with the addition of Intimidate and Survival as class skills.]
* Reproductive Curse: Mepholk are only fertile with the individual they first willingly have sexual relations with, and willingly having sexual relations with any other renders the Mepholk permanently infertile. An Atonement spell cast by a Mepholk cleric of the goddess that laid this curse on their race restores fertility, but holds an XP cost if the target was unfaithful (rather than being a widow remarrying for instance).
* Level Adjustment: +0 (but racial hit-die is permanent even when first class level taken) {2}

{2} Or +2 and no racial hitdie if a given group is going to play the spray up to its full uses rather than considering it obnoxious enough to only be used as a last resort. Due to the scaling nature of that ability the GM should consider allowing only 1 level worth to be bought off. Of course in a middle case, a LA of +1 with or without a racial hit-die would be appropriate.

Height: As per human.
Weight: As per human +10% to account for tail.
Ages: (As per human, both for starting ages for various classes, and for age categories)

Example Characters on The Tangled Web (Most, if not all, at least partially incomplete (at least by PC standards) ) :
Mary Bounder 1st level Commoner
Ronald Quick-Tail 1st level Monk
Karboth Slug-Eater 1st level Warrior
Jasso Strong-Squeak 1st level Bard
Tabitha Sparkle-Claws 1st level Sorcerer
Elizabeth Three-Bugs 3rd level Paladin
Chad Quick-Tail 5th level Monk
Samuel Soft-Foot 6th Level Sorcerer
Carlos Bounder 9th level Cleric
Edward Thunder-Rump 12th Level Fighter
Ivanhoe Mithral-Heart 15th level Paladin
David Mongoose-Rump 19th Level Monk
EDIT Oct 2009: A few months back Keld Denar was kind enough to do a 32 point optimized character sketch-outHERE.

[SIZE="5"][FONT="Book Antiqua"]Mepholk Feats[/FONT][/SIZE]
Acid Spray [Mepholk, Reserve]
By drawing off a tiny portion of the energy of your prepared spells, you can transmute your musk to acid.
Prerequisites: Con 13, Ability to cast a spell with the [Acid] Descriptor.
Benefits: As long as you have a Acid spell to cast, if you choose during the firing, in addition to the normal effects, on a direct hit, your musk now deals 1d4 points of acid damage per spell level of the highest level remaining spell you have with the Acid descriptor (Or 1 point of acid damage if you only have Acid Glob or some other 0th level Acid spell that you can still cast that day).

Powerful Musk [Mepholk]
Prerequisites: Con 15, Ability Focus (Spray)
Benefits: Your musk causes a -4 circumstance penalty to all attacks, saves, and skill checks for 3d4+9 minutes (with or without save as normal).
Normal: Your musk causes a -3 circumstance penalty to all attacks, saves, and skill checks for 2d4+6 minutes
Special: This feat may be taken more than once, although the Constitution prerequisite increase 2 points each time. Each time the penalty increases by 1 point, and the duration increases by 1d4+3 minutes. A fighter or monk may take this feat as one or more of his bonus feats. They must meet the prerequisites normally.

Extra Spray [Mepholk, Fighter, Monk]
The sacks that store your musk are enlarged.
Prerequisites:Con 13
Benefits: Increase the number of "shots" you can hold by your constitution BONUS (IE if you have a penalty (for instance because you are suffering from the effects of poison) then it DOES NOT apply).
Normal: You can hold a maximum of 6 shots.
Special:This feat may be taken multiple times, its effects stack. A fighter or monk may take this feat as one or more of his bonus feats. They must meet the prerequisites normally.

Holy Musk [Mepholk]
You can imbue your musk with the disdain of your deity.
Prerequisites: Con 13, CHA 13, Ability to Turn Undead
Benefits:When spraying, you may take a free action before firing a given individual attack to imbue it with the power of your deity by expending one of your daily uses of Turn Undead. In addition to the normal effects, on a direct hit, it now deals 1d6 points of damage per level at which you turn undead positive energy damage (as per Holy Water, but without any splash damage). Note that if you can attack more than once per round with your musk, you can imbue EACH shot with this power, (although each one requires expending a separate use of your Turn Undead Power).
Normal: Most undead are immune to your musk and it deals no hit point damage regardless of the target.

Improved Stench Resistance [Fighter, Monk]
You are a skunk, or adventure with one; you have dealt with a lot of spray in your time, and it turns out you CAN get used to that smell.
Prerequisites: ECL 3, Stench Resistance, Mepholk/Were-skunk or have gained at least two levels while adventuring with a Mepholk/Were-skunk in the party.
Benefits: You automatically succeed on fortitude saves due to the stench from the spray weapons of mepholk, were-skunks, skunks, and dire skunks. If you yourself are sprayed, you still take a reduced -1 penalty to all attacks, saves, and skill checks for 2d4+6 minutes, and while you automatically save each round to take a partial action, you must still roll each round and beat the standard save DC by at least 5 in order to take your full action. You also gain a +1 bonus on saves to resist the negative effects of any other strong scents. This bonus stacks with the bonus from the Stench Resistance feat. This feat does not benefit you against spray effects that relate to getting spray in the eyes, nor any other spray effect that is based on any property of the spray other than scent.
Normal: You must roll fortitude saves to avoid penalties from the stench of any nearby spray. The penalty to attacks, saves, and skills if you are sprayed is -3, in addition to which you must save (Fortitude) each round to take any action, beating the DC by at least 5 in order to take your full action.
Special: A fighter or Monk may take this feat as one of his bonus feats. They must meet the prerequisites normally.

Rapid Musk Production [Mepholk, Fighter, Monk]
Through constant use your musk glands have become faster at producing musk to refill your reserves when some is expended.
Prerequisites: Con 13, BAB +6
Benefits:Subtract your Constitution SCORE (NOT MODIFIER) from 30, this is the number of minutes it now takes you to replace a shot of musk, to a minimum of 1 shot per minute.
Normal:You recharge one shot of musk per 20 minutes.
Special: A fighter or monk may take this feat as one of his bonus feats.
They must meet the prerequisites normally.

Stench Resistance [Fighter, Monk]
You are a skunk, or adventure with one; you have dealt with a lot of spray in your time, and it turns out you CAN get used to that smell.
Prerequisites: ECL 2, Mepholk/Were-skunk or have gained at least one level while adventuring with a Mepholk/Were-skunk in the party.
Benefits: You gain a +4 bonus to Fortitude saves against bad smells, including but not limited to troglodyte and ghast stench, Stinking Cloud, and the musk of skunks, wereskunks, dire skunks, and mepholk.

Tail Shield Use [Mepholk, Fighter]
Skunk tails are surprisingly strong and you have trained yourself to use a shield with yours.
Prerequisites: STR 13, Proficient with Light and Heavy Shields.
Benefits: You may use a modified buckler, light, or heavy shield on your tail. When wearing such you gain the armor benefits of such, but lose your racial bonus to balance checks. You may only gain the armor benefits of one shield at any given time. Armor check penalties still apply. You may bash with the shield with the normal benefits and drawbacks. Such shields require more complex strapping, thus adding +50% to the base cost (as if creating armor for a creature with an usually shape), and requires a full round action to don or remove.
Special: A fighter may take this feat as one of his bonus feats.

Volatile Musk [Mepholk]
The odor of your musk wafts far.
Prerequisites: Con 13
Benefits: The radius of the debilitating stench from your musk is 25'. However reduce the duration of that this effect persists by 6 minutes to a minimum of 1 minute.
Normal: The radius of the effective stench from your musk is 15'.
Special: A fighter or monk may take this feat as one of his bonus feats. They must meet the prerequisites normally.

Vile Musk [Mepholk]
More is foul about your secretions than just the smell. They burn the flesh of the angels and other such champions of good.
Prerequisites: Con 13, Cha 13, Ability to Rebuke Undead
Benefits:When spraying, you may take a free action before firing a given individual attack to imbue it with the power of your deity by expending one of your daily uses of Rebuke Undead. In addition to the normal effects, on a direct hit, it now deals 1d6 points of damage per level at which you rebuke undead negative energy damage (as per Unholy Water, but without any splash damage). Note that if you can attack more than once per round with your musk, you can imbue EACH shot with this power, (although each one requires expending a separate use of your Rebuke Undead Power).
Normal: Your musk deals no hit point damage regardless of the target.

Epic Mepholk Feats
Epic Rapid Musk Production [Mepholk, Epic, Fighter, Monk]
Your musk producing glands are extremely productive and efficient.
Prerequisites:Con 25, BAB +15, Rapid Musk Production
Benefits:Subtract your Constitution SCORE (NOT MODIFIER) from 40, this is the number of ROUNDS it now takes you to replace a shot of musk, to a minimum of 1 shot per round.
Special: A fighter or monk may take this feat as one of his bonus Epic feats. They must meet the prerequisites normally.

Improved Epic Rapid Musk Production[Mepholk, Epic, Fighter, Monk]
You can spray ALL day.
Prerequisites: Con 40, BAB +20, Rapid Musk Production, Epic Rapid Musk Production, Extra Spray, Rapid Shot
Benefits: You now never run out of musk.
Special: A fighter or monk may take this feat as one of his bonus Epic feats. They must meet the prerequisites normally. If you have taken the "Extra Spray" feat more than once, then upon taking this feat you may immediately retrain all but one of those feats for other non-epic feats you qualify for.

Tower Tail Shield Use [Epic, Mepholk, Fighter]
Is that a door stuck to your tail, or are you just unhappy to see me?
Prerequisites: STR 23, Dex 13, Proficient with Tower Shields, Tail Shield Use.
Benefits: You may use a modified tower shield on your tail. When wearing such you gain the armor or cover benefits of such, but lose your racial bonus to balance checks as well as incurring all the other penalties normally associated with using a tower shield. Such shields require more complex strapping, thus adding +50% to the base cost (as if creating armor for a creature with an usually shape), and requires a full round action to don or remove.
Special: A fighter may take this feat as one of his bonus epic feats. They must meet the prerequisites normally.